New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020nypost.comBy George A. King IIIWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
As Angel Hernandez jogged
slowly away from the premature
end of spring training, the umpire
uttered words that nobody hopes
are right.
“See you guys in June,’’ Hernan-
dez said to a group of baseball
writers outside the Yankees’ club-
house Thursday afternoon at
Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
MLB suspended spring training
games and delayed the start of the
regular season at least two weeks
on Thursday because of the coro-
navirus pandemic after all 30
clubs participated in a conference
call and consulted with the Play-
ers Association.
According to
manager Aaron
Boone, the Yan-
kees have plans
to continue
workouts in Tampa and possibly
hold intrasquad games in order to
stay baseball-ready for whenever
the regular season starts. A two-
week stoppage would result in the
Yankees opening the season on
April 10 in Oakland if MLB picks
up the original schedule.
“From my understanding right
now, we stay [in Florida] to work
out as a club and everything is
within our club,’’ Boone said after
a 6-3 win over the Nationals. “My
guess is that it remains a fluid sit-
uation, obviously. We will take
MLB’s lead and the situation’s
lead and hopefully get to the
point where we get back out
there.’’
Asked if the players are obli-gated to remain with the Yankees
for workouts, Boone said he be-
lieved they were but was aware it
was too early to tell with MLB
and the Players Association hold-
ing conference calls on the sub-
ject.
Boone put the awkwardness of
the situation ahead of what it
means to teams, players and the
game.
“This is a
unique situation
that is bigger
than baseball,’’
Boone said. “You want to do your
part on behalf of the world, not
contributing to be a part of this
becoming a real poor situation.
We will be cooperative in trying
to play our part the best we can.’’
If the regular season resumes
two weeks later than originally
scheduled, the Yankees could
have Giancarlo Stanton and
Aaron Judge back from injuries.
They weren’t expected to be
ready by March 26, when the Yan-
kees were supposed to open the
season in Baltimore. Stanton is re-
covering from a strained right calf
and Judge from a stress fracture
in his top right rib.
“It definitely gives guys time to
heal up, but first things first is youwant to be part of helping this
thing not become an even bigger
situation,’’ Boone said.
As for playing a 162-game sea-
son when play resumes, Boone
said, “I am hearing that but I don’t
have that [confirmed].’’
With no games, the players can
begin working out Friday, but
Boone said he didn’t know if the
Yankees would start that soon.
“That is something we will dis-
cuss on the way home,’’ Boone
said of the 3¹/₂–hour bus ride
across Florida to Tampa. “I know
there is a conference call going on
right now that might give us more
information and clarity. Hope-
fully we will decide that on the
way home.’’
The decision was made to hold
an option workout Friday at
Steinbrenner Field.
Boone was the Reds’ player rep-
resentative in 2002 when the feud
between owners and players
came within hours of leading to a
work stoppage, but didn’t.
“I guess it has a little similarity
to those kind of things only we
might stay together and work
out,’’ Boone said.
The question now becomes
how long those workouts last.
[email protected]dented day in baseball and
around sports, as MLB sus-
pended spring training and de-
layed the start of the regular
season.
The Mets had an off day
Thursday and no major league
players were scheduled to be at
their complex, but dozens of
minor leaguers worked out.
The team was slated to head
to North Port, Fla. on Friday for
the first of two games on the
state’s Gulf Coast. Instead, they
spent much of Thursday in
limbo before commissioner
Rob Manfred and the 30 team
owners had a conference call
that resulted in MLB announc-
ing spring training games were
canceled as of 4 p.m. Thursday
and the start of the regular sea-
son would be delayed by at
least two weeks in response to
the pandemic.
For now, the team expects to
stay in Florida and work out.
The Mets had been sched-
uled to open the regular season
at Citi Field on March 26
against the Nationals, with Ja-
cob deGrom on the mound.
After his Grapefruit League
start on Wednesday, deGrom
was asked about the possibility
of Opening Day being in jeop-
ardy.
“It’s unfortunate, all this go-
ing on,’’ deGrom said. “As of
right now, I’m just preparing as
if everything was gonna hap-
pen normal. I think that’s the
plan. It could change. For me, I
just have to prepare for that
day.”
[email protected]CORONAVIRUS
IN BASEBALL
Boone: ‘Bigger
than baseball’
THAT’S ALL, FOLKS: Gio Urshela and the Yankees unexpectedly concluded their exhibition season
against the Nationals on Thursday, when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the sport. APBATS MORE LIKE ITTyler Wade hit the
ball hard twice on
Wednesday against
the Marlins in Jupiter,
Fla., but left without a
hit. Thursday, the left-
handed hitting Wade
doubled and homered.
The homer was off
Nationals lefty Sean Doolittle.
FORD ROUGHMike Ford’s chances of making the team depended
on how the Yankees’ 26-man roster was going to be
shaped. The Yankees like Ford’s left-handed bat for a
team that is top-heavy from the right side. But Ford
finished the shortened spring by hitting .194 (6-for-29).
CAUGHT MY EYEClint Frazier needed an injury to an outfielder in order
to make the Opening Day roster and he got two when
Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge went down. Frazier
took advantage of the opportunity, and had Opening
Day been March 26 — which it won’t — Frazier would
have had a starting job thanks to hitting .304 (7-for-23).TODAY’S SCHEDULEDark. — George A. King IIITRAINING
DAY